>> House #1
>>
>> A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural
>> gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all
>> heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more
>> energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The
>>average
>> bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In
>> natural as alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this
>> property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an
>> American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern
>> "snow belt," either. It's in the South.
>>
>>
>> HOUSE # 2:
>>
>> Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national
>> university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current
>> home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square
>> feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American
>> southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat
>> pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.
>> The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools
>>it
>> in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural
>> gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional
>> heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and
>> funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater
>> from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks
>> and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land
>> surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area
>> blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.
>>
>> HOUSE # 1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee . It is the abode of
>> that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore.
>>
>> HOUSE # 2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as
>> "the Texas White House," it is the private residence of the President
>>of
>> the United States, George W. Bush.
>>
>> So whose house is gentler on the environment? Uh huh!
>>
>> Yet another story you WILL NOT hear on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC,
>> MSNBC or read about in the New York Times or the Washington Post.
>>